This paper describes Oregon's experiences with state performance requirements. It explains that these requirements cover three areas: budgeting on a program basis, providing a schooling environment designed to meet student needs through a systematic management process, and setting learning performance standards for students, including graduation…

A one-year project to explore the use of children's language served as a basis for staff development through the North Dakota Study Group on Evaluation. Children's conversations among themselves were observed and recorded within the classroom setting, and the content of the observations were used for planning curriculum and assessing children's…

A workshop attended by faculty members from three Florida junior colleges and one university was held in response to legislation requiring students to demonstrate minimum communications and computation skills before entering upper division programs. General conclusions reached during the workshop focused on the value of competency testing in…

This paper describes the effect of a person's social network upon his or her use of health services. A "social network" consists of complex strands of affiliations radiating from an individual to his/her close associates (kin and friends) and then to the larger society beyond. Health services include hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices, and…

The North-South Dialogue Videotape Communication Project was an applied research program designed to assess the use of video programming as an aid to intercultural communication between isolated northern Canadian communities and southern educators. Project staff produced five video programs focusing on the culture and interests of northern people;…

This book contains 23 essays which provide an overview of the state of the art in the discipline of anthropology, including applied anthropology, archaeology, ethnology, social anthropology, and linguistics. Most of the authors are professors and researchers from departments of anthropology in United States colleges and universities. Topics of the…

Made up of five components, the School Planning, Evaluation, and Communication System (SPECS) is an approach to program planning and evaluation applicable to all instructional and noninstructional programs and activities. As such, it focuses on outcomes, processes, and inputs in a continuous cycle of planning, evaluation, and replanning. As well…

In any successful conversation, a speaker must select both what is said and how it is said on the basis of various estimates of the listener's abilities, knowledge and interests. Most research on linguistic input to children has focused on the tendency of speakers to simplify their speech for the younger listener. Little attention has been paid to…

Peer social behaviors and interaction were observed in day care centers and family day care homes in order to examine the influences of experience and environment. The naturally occurring behaviors of forty toddlers and their peers were time sampled in day care settings. Day care facilities were community based and varied in group size, age…

The goal of integrating coping skills into the English as a second language (ESL) curriculum is to enable adults to use language in the real world. To accomplish this goal, two kinds of input are needed: (1) comprehensive knowledge about the workings of American English, and (2) accurate information about the language contexts in which adults need…

Three measure of English language proficiency (a partial dictation [Cloze] test, a text-reading and recollection test, and a story-telling test) were administered to three groups of college-level students (Finns, Swedish-Finns, and Swedes). The results are analyzed in several articles presented here: (1) "The Comprehension of Function Words…

This guide was developed to aid elementary students deal with life experiences through skill development. Major skills stressed are: locating, organizing, and evaluating information; acquiring information through listening, observing, and reading; communicating orally and in writing; interpreting pictures, charts, graphs, and tables; and working…

Based on the need to strengthen articulation activities within the Illinois educational system, this project was designed to provide a formal articulation mechanism utilizing the concept of institutional coordination for the development of comprehensive vocational programs and services. Phase 1 of the project developed an articulation process…

Part 2 of a three-part volume for research and development systems researchers, this report attempts to apply the contextual analysis framework of research, development, and innovation (RD & I) activities presented in Part 1. The authors make a detailed analysis of RD & I activities in the sectors of education, civilian aviation, health,…

This report presents findings from four studies of adolescent behavior in high schools. A basic assumption was that organization structure has strong effects on behavior. The authors concluded that the large comprehensive high school's organization structure with emphasis on teacher initiated action, routine batch processing, and reliance on…